Jul 10, 2013
Match 03 The Rage knew that they would be playing one man short tonight. They had discussed in pre game that they would try to conserve their energy during the early stages of the series. Also today was a notable day as Sandeep celebrated his birthday but being a true competitor that he is, he came ready to play the game. Game 1 was a very intense match where the two teams played at high energy level. The Anger's passed the ball around, drawing the Rage defender's to them and then giving it out to an open player. Raj scored 3 of 5 goals to take the Anger's to a 5-3 win. Sandeep and Geoff contributed a goal apiece. The Rage had no answer for this match. They wondered if this would be their first series defeat in over a year, dating back to last season. Game 2 didn't start out too well for Rage as Veer had an own goal to give Anger's a 1-0 lead and by early indications it seemed as if the Anger's would have this game as well but Rage played a good game and went on win by score of 5-2. Veer scored 3 goals, while Justin scored 2. Game 3 had a similar ending as game 2 as the Rage went on to win the game by 5 -2. It was clearly evident that the Anger's paced had slowed from game 1. Veer scored 3 goals while Justin scored 2. Game 4, The Anger's needed to win this game to push the series to a 5th and deciding game however, they seemed to have ran out of stamina. They relied on a lot of long shots against the run of play, while Raj did score 2 goals, it wasn't enough as again the Rage went on to win the game 5-2 and take the series. The season series now stands at 3-0. Since starting out the season 0-3 last year, the Rage have won 10 straight series'. Of note in this game, Raj of the Anger's had 4 handballs, one of them was a controversial one as the ball was on path to the goal. After a brief discussion the officials decided not to give an automatic goal. Veer led all scorers with 10 goals, Second straight game he topped the goals tally. For the season he is the top goal scorer with 24 goals ( 2.18 GPG), He had a good overall offensive game with good scoring and some great one touch passing, however once again his defense was a question at times. He allowed an own goal and let few other goals in that he perhaps could have stopped. In game 1 Veer was hit by Sandeep on the bottom of his feet. His suffered a mild bruise in his Left Peroneus Longus Tendon. Justin played a very consistent game, he scored 2 goals in each of the game for a total of 8 goals per game. He had some great passing tonight. During the game he was contemplating on trying to use a Maradona move that he watched on YouYube. He briefly tried to use that move but was unsuccessful. Justin had been battling a Rectus Femoris injury for some time now. He stated after the game that while sore, he feels less pain than last week. Raj Kumar scored 7 goals today. His strategy was to dribble and take shots from anywhere in the rink. He was held at bay by the defense of the Rage. He had a bunch of handballs in the game. It was observed that when he thought a ball was going in, he tried to handball it to save the goal. Sandeep scored only 1 goal in the whole series on the day of his birthday. Having turned a year older you have to wonder if age is catching up to him. Over the past several years he has retired numerous times and now a year older, experts question just how much is age getting in the way of his performance. In this series, Sandeep decided to abandon his shin pads as word was that he had been battling a strain on his Flexor Hallucis due to the shin pad. Geoff scored 3 goals, a disappointment of sorts considering he started the season with a bang, scoring 7 goals in the opening series of the year. Expectations rose after that series and he was considered an elite performer, however he had a disappointing series tonight. More was needed from Geoff tonight on the offensive end. His reaction time was considerably slow tonight. Geoff hopes to bounce back next match of the season. The Rage lead the season series 3-0. After a hot start, the Angers seemed to have ran out of gas tonight. They will try and work on their stamina to keep pace with the Rage next time. Scoresheet * If necessary Game Statistics Games played | Goals | Goals per game